New rules slash emissions at Port of Oakland, but threaten local truckers

For years, West Oakland residents have pushed government officials to do something about air quality in their neighborhood, which is sandwiched between three major highways and the Port of Oakland, and dotted with industrial sites. In particular, locals have pointed to the estimated 2,000 diesel trucks that drive in and out of the port several times each day. Diesel exhaust has been linked to increased cancer rates, premature deaths and respiratory illness, including asthma, among West Oakland residents.

In 2010, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) instituted new rules, banning the oldest trucks from California ports, and requiring that others be retrofitted or replaced to reduce emissions.

Now, a team of UC Berkeley researchers has found that those rules reduced emissions from diesel trucks operating at the Port of Oakland by up to 50 percent in just the past year.